WHAT IS YOUR LIFE?
Opening Prayer
Mighty God, help me to remember always that while you sustain all of creation, your Word tells me that you hold me in the palm of your hand.
Read JAMES 4:13–17
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘The life of mortals…they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone…’ (Psalm 103:15, 16).I love planning—sorting through my work diary, looking ahead as I organize holidays and family gatherings. But I’m challenged by the opening of this passage, addressed originally to wealthy merchants across Palestine and the Mediterranean as they confidently declare plans for their trading activities (v. 13). There is an arrogance in presuming that self-sufficient planning brings success.
Not that planning is wrong, but planning without including God is not only foolish, it is named as sinful. Thinking back to livelihoods devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic emphasizes the fragility of our existence and the importance of trusting in God for our future and not relying on our own insights (Proverbs 3:5).
Life is precious, a gift from God—and only he knows the number of our days. Our response should be one of prayerful obedience, listening to God for our future, being prepared to change direction if necessary, and holding all our plans lightly. Planning can be good stewardship, but only if we place our dependence on God and embrace his sovereign purpose in our lives (v. 15).
Apply
Despite the transitory nature of our earthly lives, rejoice that the steadfast love of the Lord is ‘from everlasting to everlasting’ on ‘those who fear him’ (Psalm 103:17).
Closing prayer
Lord God, thank you for the new life you have given me in Christ. In all that I do, help me use it in ways that bring you glory.
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